(Columbus) - The Department
of Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) has allocated funds to immediately begin
hiring a limited number of corrections officers and other key positions at
prisons throughout Ohio. This action will partially relieve a serious staffing
shortage at several Ohio prisons that has worsened since the announcement in
March of plans to close the Lima Correctional Institution (LCI). While the
Department has not changed its decision to close Lima, it can no longer delay
filling many critical staff openings that have been left vacant in compliance
with the layoff provisions in union contracts.

The
Department decided to close the Lima prison to improve efficiency and economy
within the organization in response to the current State economy and budget
shortfall. DRC believes it is better to operate fewer but fully staffed
prisons, than more prisons that are only partially staffed. The closure of Lima
had been scheduled to occur in July 2003 and would have saved twenty-five
million dollars per year, allowing that money to be allocated to the remaining
Ohio prisons to hire needed staff.

Shortly
after the March announcement, the union representing most LCI employees, in
conjunction with the City of Lima, sought and received from the local court,
injunctions that have prevented the Department from proceeding with its plan to
close the prison. The last injunction imposed remains in force and is currently
being appealed by DRC to the Third District Court of Appeals. A DRC request to
that Court to expedite the appeal process has been denied.

When the Department announced in March its
intent to close the prison in Lima, contractual and statutory obligations
protecting the layoff rights of the Lima employees automatically imposed a
hiring freeze on corrections officers and many other positions at all northern
Ohio prisons. Since that time, the hiring freeze and the normal attrition of
staff have exacerbated a staffing shortage. Southern Ohio prisons not impacted
by the freeze have also been affected, resulting in staff shortages statewide.

The Lima
Correctional Institution remains open. In the first quarter of this fiscal year,
it consumed $6.6 million that had been designated for use to hire staff at other
prisons.

The
Department can no longer delay filling critical vacancies while waiting for the
courts to resolve the case. It must begin limited hiring at this time. The
measures that DRC have taken to balance its budget in response to the court
mandated delay have been effective but cannot continue indefinitely. With no end
to that delay in sight, the Department believes that the union contractual
commitments regarding layoffs were never intended to compel the protracted
hiring freeze currently in place at the northern Ohio prisons.

Soon after
it became apparent that the LCI closure would be indefinitely delayed, the DRC
took a number of measures to prevent its budget from spiraling out of control.
In addition to the hiring freeze that was already in place for northern Ohio
prisons, DRC redistributed staff and limited overtime, reducing the number of
officers called in to cover absences. Although those actions even further
reduced the staff available to the prisons it was necessary to ensure fiscal
responsibility. The money those actions saved will now allow the Department to
hire a limited number of staff at prisons where employee shortages have reached
critical levels. However until the Lima prison closes, the money necessary to
return all Ohio prisons to their established complement of employees will not be
available.

For more
information, please contact the DRC Public Information Office at (614)
752-1150.